The invention relates to a sliding gate valve and to an associated slider unit.
In a known sliding gate valve disclosed in publication EP-A-0277146, a longitudinally slidable slider unit is provided which accommodates a refractory valve plate and which is constructed as a sliding carriage and has rollers on both sides to guide the slider unit longitudinally. In the installed state, the sliding carriage is longitudinally guided with its rollers on guide tracks on a frame which, for its part, is vertically movably mounted on a housing upper portion by a plurality of spring elements. The housing upper portion for its part is releasably secured to the outlet of the vessel containing the molten metal.
The slider unit can be released from the frame and from the housing upper portion, particularly for plate replacement, by virtue of the fact that it is movable into a position situated outside an open and closed position in which the guide tracks are lowered through a height which relaxes the spring elements. The frame provided with the guide tracks is massive as a result of its construction similar to a housing, and it therefore has a relatively complex construction and is consequently expensive to manufacture.
Against this background, the object of the present invention is to provide a sliding gate valve of the type referred to above which is of simple construction and may thus be manufactured more economically.
The object is solved by providing a gate valve in accordance with the invention. Specifically, the sliding gate valve in accordance with the invention can be provided with smaller dimensions, particularly with regard to its length and breadth, by comparison with the known valve described above with the same stroke and the same plate sizes. Furthermore, it may be manufactured more economically by virtue of the fact that the housing frame can be omitted.
The advantages of the known sliding gate valve, such as, for example, the automatic release and clamping of the slider unit from and to the housing portion, are, however, also applicable to the sliding gate valve in accordance with the invention.
A further substantial advantage of the sliding gate valve in accordance with the invention resides in the fact that, after release from the housing portion, the slider unit is pivotally mounted with a simply constructed hinge. Thus, the slider unit can pivot about an axis of rotation extending parallel to the direction of movement on one or the other outer side of the housing portion. The slider unit can thus be swung in a horizontal and non-vertical direction in the many installation conditions of the ladles which prevail.